The 2023 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 2023, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The 109th annual Rose Bowl, the game featured Penn State from the Big Ten Conference and Utah from the Pac-12 Conference. The game began at 2:11p.m. PST and was aired on ESPN and ESPN Radio. It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by Prudential Financial, the game is officially known as The Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential.

This game was the final Rose Bowl with its conference tie in of Pac 12 vs Big Ten before the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams in 2024 (2025 Calendar year) and hosting the final four team playoff semifinal in 2023 (2024 Calendar year).

Induction ceremonies to the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame were held before the game honoring three-time Rose Bowl Game head coach Hugo Bezdek (1884–1952), recently retired Rose Bowl Stadium CEO Darryl Dunn, 1977 Rose Bowl Game MVP Vince Evans (USC), and 1987 All-American Lorenzo White (Michigan State).

Teams Based on conference tie-ins, the game featured Big Ten Conference team Penn State and Pac-12 Conference champion Utah. Utah earned their spot by defeating #4 USC in the Pac-12 Championship by a score of 47–24 on December 2. Penn State earned their spot after Ohio State and Michigan made it to the College Football Playoff. This was Utah's second consecutive Rose Bowl, with an appearance in last year's edition against the Ohio State Buckeyes, while this was Penn State's 5th overall Rose Bowl game, most recently playing in the 2017 edition against the USC Trojans.

This game marked the Nittany Lions' 100th anniversary of their first Rose Bowl Game. They were defeated by Southern California 14–3 on January 1, 1923. This was the first time Utah and Penn State had ever played each other.

Penn State Nittany Lions

The Nittany Lions earned their 5th overall Rose Bowl bid after they finished the regular season as the 3rd highest ranked team from the Big Ten Conference. The two higher ranked teams in the Big Ten, Michigan and Ohio State, both reached the College Football Playoff, giving the Nittany Lions the trip to Pasadena. Penn State finished their regular season with an overall 10–2 record, 7–2 in Big Ten play. Their losses came to Michigan and Ohio State in the 7th and 9th weeks of the regular season, respectively.

Utah Utes

After winning their second-straight Pac-12 championship, this was the second consecutive Rose Bowl appearance for the Utes, who lost to Ohio State in the 2022 edition. Utah finished their regular season with a 9–3 overall record, 7–2 in Pac-12 play. Their losses came to Florida, UCLA (in the same stadium), and Oregon. The Utes faced USC in the Pac-12 Championship, a rematch between the teams. Utah had defeated USC on October 15 by a 43–42 score (USC's only regular season loss), and defeated them again for the Pac-12 title, 47–24. The Utes entered the Rose Bowl with an overall 10–3 record.

Game summary

Statistics

+Team statistical comparisonStatisticPenn StateUtahFirst downs 14 23First downs rushing 5 12First downs passing 9 9First downs penalty 0 2Third down efficiency 7–13 11–19Fourth down efficiency 0–1 1–2Total plays–net yards 54–448 83–391Rushing attempts–net yards 31–169 43–184Yards per rush 5.5 4.3Yards passing 279 207Pass completions–attempts 16–22 18–40Interceptions thrown 0 2Punt returns–total yards 2–4 0–0Kickoff returns–total yards 3–68 1–15Punts–average yardage 5–46.4 5–40.8Fumbles–lost 0–0 0–0Penalties–yards 3–33 4–25Time of possession 24:47 35:13

+Penn State statisticsNittany Lions passing Sean Clifford 16–21 279 2–0 Drew Allar 0–1 0 0–0Nittany Lions rushing Nicholas Singleton 7 120 2 Kaytron Allen 11 37 1 Tank Smith 4 15 0 Sean Clifford 8 -1 0 TEAM 1 -2 0Nittany Lions receiving KeAndre Lambert-Smith 3 124 1 Mitchell Tinsley 6 49 1 Harrison Wallace III 2 47 0 Theo Johnson 1 28 0 Kaytron Allen 3 16 0 Tyler Warren 1 15 0

+Utah statisticsUtes passing Bryson Barnes 10–19 112 1–1 Cameron Rising 8–21 95 1–1Utes rushing Ja'Quinden Jackson 13 81 1 Micah Bernard 11 59 0 Cameron Rising 9 56 0 Money Parks 1 9 0 Jaylen Dixon 1 5 0 Devaughn Vele 1 -9 0 Bryson Barnes 7 -17 0Utes receiving Devaughn Vele 5 100 0 Jaylen Dixon 6 64 1 Logan Kendall 1 14 0 Money Parks 1 12 0 Ja'Quinden Jackson 1 8 0 Micah Bernard 3 8 0 Thomas Yassmin 1 1 1

References